About Cal Skinner

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Bachmann Blogging Again — 9 Comments

Maybe somebody could buy it and try an Evel Keneval jump stunt over the MCCD board; vaulting the motorcycle off of a 2×4

Seriously, with that low a mileage on it, I suspect that what you’re seeing is one of many police motorcycles leased by Harley-Davidson under a program started about ten years ago. They want to “fly their colors” and recapture the police motors market that they once ruled. So here’s the deal, they LEASE the motor to the government entity for $1 per year. Yep, not a typo, anyone can Google it and read about the program (except maybe Bachmann).

MCCD probably got greedy and jumped on the bandwagon and grabbed one up as a spare (at $1 per year, it was really a smart thing to do if you’re going to use motors in your department). Wouldn’t you take a second car for $1 as a backup if you had a place to store it?

While it’s surprising that it only has 7 miles on it, IF they (MCCD) leased it as a spare, it may have been sitting at the dealership all this time and never used. Makes it a great deal for everyone involved, MCCD who paid diddley squat to have an extra motor if they needed it, the new purchaser getting a “new, old stock” motorcycle.

When David goes to whisper in Sheriff Prim’s ear, he might ask him just how much the sheriff’s department paid for their Harley’s. Hint… they took advantage of the same program.

Well Ben, since you know it all so well, then who paid to have all the MCCD Special Graphics painted on the bike, or was that ‘thrown’ in with the $1.00 engine giveaways. maybe like all the “Nygren” names plastered all over the rolling stock of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department?

If it is so innocent, then why has Woodstock Harley Davidson taken the bike down from it’s web site as of yesterday morning when questions started being asked? I’m just asking the questions not accusing anybody of anything. Are you afraid I might find out the entire truth for some reason, perhaps that is why some guys just dropped their gear and walked off the job before Sheriff Prim took office?

See Ben who knows it all, I have purchased 13 brand new HD Motorcycles and two brand new Yamaha Sport Touring bikes since April of 2011…. yes, that is not a typo. Call down to Woodstock HD and ask them how many new and used bikes I have taken off their showroom floor in the past four years….go ahead since you have so much time now that you aren’t brown nosing your boss man.

The wear on the bikes brake pads and foot rests to not equate to a bike with just seven miles on it…do you see the front brake pads ‘person hiding under fake names?” Look a little bit dark and not all shiny like a bike with only seven miles on it?

So, now I ask you again, why did Woodstock HD feel they needed to remove the bike from their online inventory? Your stepping up as the mouthpiece on this one, so please answer the question.

Maybe for the same reason they had an entire page of New 2014, Dyna Street Bob’s listed for sale in all kinds of colors of the rainbow, but guess what, when I called to tell them I wanted to purchase one, all of a sudden they had to admit they had ZERO 2014 Street Bob’s in stock. But for the everyday low deposit of $1,000.00, they would be happy to go out and try to dealer trade for one. (Wasn’t that kind of them)

But oh gosh, they just couldn’t find one so they then recommended that I just go ahead and get the more expensive 2015 model which they just happened to have in stock. Of course that was going to run me $500.00 more. But hey, better I pay the freight for their ‘advertising problems’ than they!

This Mr know it all, is known as “Bait and Switch!” It is illegal.

Further, just minutes after they provided me with that wonderful information guess what happened… yes, the entire page of the 2014 Street Bob’s they claimed they had in stock, suddenly disappeared, just like the MCCD Road King bike now has. But never fear, I have all the original snap shots of all the advertising inclusive of the pricing and the claim that the bike has only seven miles, plus less we forget, a paint job advertising the MCCD web site sitting on a privately owned businesses sales floor?

I guess you don’t see any problems with that either eh “Ben?”

DO you know that it is not legal to sell a vehicle with the previous businesses name not removed from said vehicle? Imagine a guy like Ben Frankly with such a cute cover name, riding around on a motorcycle with all the MCCD Police images plastered upon it, pulling over young girls for ‘violations.’ But this is Illinois, after all. Maybe it’s perfectly legal here?

Are you starting to see the bigger picture here “Ben Frankly?” Oh, you never thought of that part of the HD Police engine giveaway did you… of course you haven’t because you just read google for your information.

So the question is, since you obviously can’t see the entire picture I’m trying to draw for the good folks of McHenry County, why is it the MCCD doesn’t seem to know about the bikes existence even though they must have paid to have all those graphics painted on the bike, or according to you, perhaps Harley Davidson is so hard up for sales that they throw in custom paint jobs now as well just to get their name recognized? Is that it “Ben?”

Why couldn’t the FOIA officer find the documents supporting the lease of this bike or maybe they had since later yesterday afternoon?

I also was unaware that big fat Harley Road Kings are good for trail riding in the mud in the woods….don’t you think a Kawasaki dirt bike might be a better choice for chasing bad guys over the river and through the woods?

SO why all the secrecy….?

When you find all this out Ben Frankly we can’t wait to hear all the answers.

PS “Ben,” I’m a man who never, ever gets embarrassed, so please, continue to take shots at me all day and night long. I’m sure your three amigos will soon show up too? Maybe it will be a slow day in the garage door hanging business?

But at the end of the day, I’m going to get some answers and perhaps somebody’s ass in my briefcase!

Now I’m finished commenting with those hiding under false screen names. You have your ‘homework’ all laid out for you Ben.

“Ben Frankley,” or “Stewart Smalley” whatever your name really is, I was not going to outright embarrass you but I am sorry I am going to have to. I can’t let you lead Cal’s readers and the good tax payers of McHenry County to think they are actually paying “$1.00 dollar for a 20,000.00 Harley Davidson Motorcycle.

“Stewart,” are you aware of a term known as ‘Residual Factor?’ A ‘Residual factor’ is the dollar amount that a car or motorcycle dealer believes the vehicle leased might be worth at the END of a ‘closed end lease’ will be worth.

“Stewart,” do you know what a ‘closed end lease’ is?

Well, I won’t take my time to educate you but let me tell the folks who have read your silly comment who might actually believe any police agency can get a brand new Harley Davidson Road King motorcycle for the sum total of a $1.00 lease payment.

The representative dealership, in this case in question is the Woodstock Harley Davidson dealership located presently on the south end of the intersection of HWY’s 14 and 47, also known as Eastwood Drive, Woodstock, Illinois.

I can also break the news right here on Cal’s blog, that Woodstock Harley Davidson is moving out of its current location very, very soon and will be making its new home within the old abandoned Woodstock K-Mart building located just south of their current address. A nice move for such a thriving business in Woodstock, Illinois.

Woodstock Harley Davidson does not lease twenty thousand dollar motorcycles for 1.00 per year “Stewart,” they lease the bikes for whatever the going rate of interest is plus the pro-rated usage of the bike. So just for the sake of conversation, a two or three year lease would equate to about half the LIST price of the motorcycle after all 24 or 36 month payments have been tendered by the police agency to the dealership.

What Harley Davidson, BMW, Yamaha and the like, can offer is an unlimited mile fixed term closed end lease with a ‘residual’ back end of lease buyout for a buck!

So if the bike cost say 20,000 for the bike alone, THEN, add in the custom paint job for a few thousand dollars, add in the toys “Stewart,” like the pretty blue lights and loud sirens and all the things that give you a real thrill?

Then maybe add on a “Scream’n Eagle Super Tuner and a Heavy Intake Air Breather that now must be “Dyno Tuned” on a highly specialized dealer owned computer that is hooked up to the motorcycle’s engine and revved up at super high RPM’s,as the bike is strapped down to a ‘tread mill’ type devise so the bike doesn’t fly across the showroom floor and kill somebody, (Am I losing you yet “Stewart Smalley?”) this process alone costs about $5,000.00 more but is factored in to the lease payments PER MONTH,

So now “Stewart Smalley-Ben Frankly” the dealership has invested in your police departments new motorcycle, a grand total of about 30,000.00. Still think your local dealership is giving all the things you need to convert a basic Road King into a “Police Bike” for the total sum of a single dollar bill?

No, of course not.

After all the agreed upon monthly payments have been made to the dealership or to the dealerships designated financial institution who financed the bike and all that extra fun stuff on the bike to make it go “WhooWhoo” then, if the dealership and the police department build a final ‘residual’ payment of one single dollar as the full and final payoff on the bike that the police department had been paying on for the past two or three years, then that is between the dealership and the police agency.

If the lease was a ‘closed end lease’ to begin with, then the police department is NOT obligated to do one single other thing other than to purchase the bike for the pre-agreed upon residual or ‘back end’ amount, or, the police agency drops the bike back off at the dealership and they walk away and the dealership then is free to sell the bike at fair market value to recover their entire back end profit margin.

If the leases were “Open ended” leases “Stewart,” then the police agency would be on the hook for the entire agreed upon amount that was sealed by a signature and a hand shake on day one, all those many months prior to the expiration of the lease itself.

To help you just a little bit more “Stewart” most dealerships do NOT finance the terms of the lease. In the case of Harley Davidson, their bank, “Eagle Mark Savings Bank,” the money went to the dealership to pay for all the pretty blue and red lights and loud sirens we all so dearly love to hear that makes us feel oh so secure in our homes as they go speeding by in the dark of night!

I suggest you read this article that can be found via this link I am providing immediately below for your convenience. I’d not want Cal’s readers to think you are as smart as you are trying so hard into making us think you just might be “Stewart.”

So FINALLY in closing. I would like to continue to work with Cal in securing ALL the documents that exist at this very moment in time that explain how much that 2012, Harley Davidson Road King police edition motorcycle REALLY cost the tax payers of McHenry County.

Obviously from the ‘shuck and jive’ I have received thus far from the MCCD itself and the disappearing act of the Woodstock Harley Davidson dealership, I believe it to be judicious at the least to find out the true, TOTAL cost to have such a machine sitting around for so many years.